Indie folk group Darlingside returns to Boston

By Chad Berndtson/For The Patriot Ledger

Wednesday

Mar 21, 2018 at 11:00 AM

Darlingside has been called “alt-folk,” “baroque folk-pop” and a host of other chewy descriptors that suggest but don’t quite capture what makes them so compelling. The Massachusetts-bred quartet has a string band instrumentation that, instead of a traditional bluegrass or Americana construct, helps position their sound somewhere at the intersection of indie pop, layered progressive rock and modern folk, with a focus on brilliant harmonies and evocative lyrics.

They’re a superb experience live, too, and return Thursday to The Sinclair in Cambridge — one of their biggest Boston headlining shows yet, and sold out in advance for the first time.

“Birds Say,” the band’s 2015 breakout album, established their national headliner bona fides. This time they’re towing “Extralife,” which arrived in February and refracts the bands signature sound into something darker, spookier and heavier without losing the poetry in the lyrics but still touching on subjects like nuclear fallout and the “flattening out” of the world.

It’s an album for these fraught political times, without being overtly or sanctimoniously political. Call it very 21st century folk.

“We’ve always spent a lot of time and effort putting our music together,” said violinist/mandolinist/vocalist Auyon Mukharji, in a recent interview. “I think what helped make us bulletproof early on is that we didn’t ever do it with the knowledge or expectation that a lot of people would hear it. You’re making an album, you’re putting it out there along with 1,000 being released that week. So the amount of attention we’ve received is something that makes us feel really honored and that we’ve tried to stay disciplined about.”

The four bandmates, all hyphenate contributors — Mukharji, guitarist/banjoist/vocalist Don Mitchell, guitarist/cellist/vocalist Harris Paseltiner and drummer/bassist/vocalist David Sent — met at Williams College in Williamstown nearly a decade ago. They began as a five piece and swelled to as many as seven members before settling into the current four-piece lineup in 2013.

They were friends, first, Mukharij highlights, and that’s helped them stay humble and collaborative even as national notices picked up and the band landed coveted gigs, such as opening for Patty Griffin in 2015.

“We feel really lucky to be where we are,” he said. “The band is designed around friendship. Anyone has veto power, and you can’t have everyone weigh in on every single decision all the time, but we knew early on we were working toward the same goals and that no one wanted any disproportionate credit or compensation. We got good at talking it out, early.”

That our local scene can continue to nurture a rise like Darlingside’s is a point of pride. They started off playing shows in tiny rooms like Cambridge’s Lily Pad, Club Passim and the Lizard Lounge, and also came up as friends and collaborators with other local bands now enjoying national attention, like the Ballroom Thieves and Tall Heights.

All four Darlingside band members still live in the area — Cambridge and Waltham — though respectively they hail from Kansas City, Chicago, Lakeville, Conn. and Bedford, N.Y.

“We were just seduced into staying here,” Mukharij said, chuckling. “We have a whole lot of pride for Boston and the Boston musical identity. The support network that exists in this city for not only bands but also venues is amazing.”